Con-Red: Recourse (44 page)

“
Regal
, Raven!  Detecting multiple living personnel trapped within the
Allison
, repeat, I’m reading three to four life-signs within the vessel.  Marking positions and request immediate SAR team for extraction,” Styker yelled out quickly as the area within the ship in front of him lit up with multiple locators inside.  Each locator actually sent back stable vital signs from each of the individuals trapped inside.

“
Acknowledge Raven, data received.  Priority
Allison
and dispatching SAR teams throughout.  Proceed with your original mission,” came back the reply from the carrier before groups of AT-44 Shadow assault transports appeared on the sensor display from the
Regal
and other ships in the CBG.

Styker wanted to stay and make sure that everything went smoothly, but he also knew that there was nothing more he could do.  The search-and-rescue teams knew what they were doing and would not need him hanging around to watch their every move.  With one last gaze at the working robot he noted that the air leak from within the ship had ceased, meaning that the machine had completed its task as its programming intended.  Hopefully the people trapped within the wreckage would now have enough air to hold out until the SAR team cut them out.  There was also some optimism now that the search teams flying towards the other wreckages would location other living crew members surviving inside some of the other destroyed ships.  With that last thought he maneuvered away from the floating remains and finally accelerated after the rest of his squadron towards Darma Horizon, the moon based fuel facility.

“Raven, we’re detecting high concentrations of
darmatium around the moon,” Styker heard his XO Lt. Commander Gabe ‘Slinger’ Colvin express through the TacNet, “also picking up two heavily damaged fuel transports in decaying orbit.  Looks like they were trying to escape the surface during the attack.  Both appear to have ruptured all of their holding tanks.  Going in for a closer look and sending a flight down to the moon’s surface.”

The readouts on his screen
showed him exactly what Slinger was referring to.  There was a large expanding cloud of darmatium flowing from the two floating freighters.  Darmatium was a highly precious and therefore lucrative commodity within the Federation and the Independent Planets throughout human controlled space.  It was first discovered by Darma Industries in their quest for a new fuel source, while studying the feasibility of using Dark Matter.  Through extensive and prolonged testing they founded a process of refining raw dark matter into a usable molecular compound that they called darmatium.  When this new molecule was fused together it generated an extreme amount of energy, allowing entire ships to be powered by much smaller reactor cores than previous.  It also allowed smaller ships to utilize Transit Drive technology for long distance travel.  At this point in time almost every star ship in existence used dark matter reactors as a source of power.  Darmatium fueled reactors had also become the preferred electrical power provider on most Federation planets.  Pretty much anything that needed power was now fueled by the stuff.  Even Styker’s fighter and every other small craft in the military ran on it.

All of this made the molecular compound a tremendously important asset to the Federation and its military.  The fact that only a limited number of refining facilities existed meant that each one was highly valuable.  While the loss of a couple such facilities could be tolerated, it would be a great inconvenience since that sector would need to be supplied by other
nearby fuel depots and processing plants.  It was no surprise to Styker that someone would want to attack Chu-Tsao as it was a high profile target.  That was the reason for why each one was heavily guarded and why the military always contained war fighting assets within the vicinity.  The great cost of the fuel also made it a high value target for daring pirates and terrorist groups trying to disrupt the UPF supply, use it for their own systems and ships, or simply sell it on the black market for large profits.

“Raven, you have to see this,” Gabe called out to him and relayed a video link directly to his Dragonfire.

The view projecting to him was shocking, but not entirely unexpected considering the violence they had all just seen in the system and even directly above the moon itself.  Where the large processing and refining facility had stood, along with its massive circular transporter docking pads, was now a five kilometer wide crater.  Styker’s analytical mind quickly went through what could have caused such a blast.  At the moment he could only settle on one scenario.  Something must have ruptured Darma Horizon’s extensive underground network of storage tanks with enough force to trigger a fusion reaction in the fuel stored there.  A large amount of darmatium would have more than enough explosive force to cause such devastating carnage.

It was no surprise either that sensors detected no life signs on the moon’s surface.  There was nothing that, unshielded, could survive such a detonation.  There were, however, reading of more distinct radiation emanating from the moon of the same type detected on the hulls of the destroyed naval vessels floating in space.  The commander hoped that at least some of the data-cores onboard those
ships were still salvageable so that they could help explain and identify what had happened in this system. 

What was clear to everyone, though, was that the Cetus Sector had just lost its only darmatium refinery and would now have to rely on those supplying surrounding sectors.  This
would put further strain on those more distant facilities, but they would certainly compensate, unless something else happened to disrupt supplies or their shipments.  Should that ever happen, it wouldn’t take long for Cetus to deplete its meager storage capacity of the fuel.  The sector had never really been thought of as an important asset to the Federation.  It contained only a small fraction of the UPF’s population and manufacturing capability.  For this reason only a minimal defense force was deployed within the sector to protect it and the Federation’s interests within.

“
Regal
command, I’m confirming the destruction of Darma Horizon,” Styker signed into the communications link, “no life-signs detected on the surface.”

Something in his gut told Styker Telwin that whoever had conducted this heinous act of war was not finished yet.  Every instinct in his body told him that all of this was just the beginning of something much larger to come.

“Why was I not informed of these exercises Admiral?!” the large holographic image of Ariel Osterberg, the United Planets Federation Premier herself, called out in question, “I’m the Commander in Chief, I need to know these things before some lowly reporter does!  Do you have any idea how this makes me look?  You forced me to lie to the Federation public so that they would not think I’m derelict in my duties as their Premier.  It does not look well when the person in charge has no idea what her military is doing.”

“It
became my military after the Talbot administration Mrs. Premier,” Admiral Lin emphasized as he leaned forward on his desk towards the projection in front of him, “my job is to assure that our military is the most competent force in the galaxy and I can’t do that effectively if I have to ask you every time I wish to run an exercise.”

“You forget your place Xwai,” Ariel came back quickly, not one to be
pushed around and railroaded, “you only have the position because I allow it.  I know you have more experience than anyone, but that only allows you so much leeway.  This wasn’t just some small defense drill, we are talking about five entire fleets and tens of thousands of ground troops across six sectors.  It could appear as a military mobilization to other governments when done in such secrecy.  Did you even consider any repercussions?”

“
If you threaten someone Ariel, you better make sure you have the will to go through with it.  Plus, the Independents and Entechs can think all they want.  I don’t have to disclose anything to them.  What the Federation Military Forces do is none of their concern.  We have our own problems to deal with and need our armed forces to be in top form.”

The Premier frowned and shook her head slowly at the much older Admiral, “you cannot simply disregard others because you don’t agree with them or deem them unworthy.  We have been at peace for decades because of open dialogue with those groups.”

“We have been at peace because we have a major military advantage over our enemies, Miss.” Xwai interrupted quickly, “that advantage alone is keeping them in check and making them think twice before they start making plans for our destruction.  Mark my words, the Entech can smell weakness, like wolves, and if we show them any weakness they will strike a deadly blow against us.”

“I sincerely hope that you are joking.  There are no indications what so ever that the Technologists are actually rebuilding their military after the Crusades.
  Anyways, this is not the issue at the moment.  I’m much more curious as to what’s going on with Frontiera and Kapricara.  No one has been able to contact those worlds.  Is this related to the so called readiness drills?”

The
Admiral listened to her speak and looked down at the top of his desk.  At the moment it was set to display mode and the entire surface was covered in various reports from all around the Federation.  When the Premier mentioned those two planets he knew there really nothing he could report at the moment.  He wanted her out of the loop as long as possible for his plan to work.  It was no surprise that she would find out after so many days.  A planet loosing complete contact with the outside galaxy is bound to make news.  His team had been working tirelessly to prevent regular citizens from knowing anything was wrong by intercepting all communications sent to Frontiera and Kapricara.  For each video call they would answer personally and tell the sender that the person they were trying to contact was away on military training.  Each letter, however, was answered back in the same manner that would be used by the person they were trying to contact.  This was done with the aid of a sophisticated analytical program that was able to mimic a person’s responses by reading previous messages sent by that individual.

“I’m sure you are aware of the uptick in pirate and terrorist activities over the past year, this is nothing more than that.  The Fringe Sector has seen a slight increase in these hostile acts as we drive the criminals from the rest of Federation space,” the Admiral stated and looked back up at the hologram. “
Some of these elements have attacked and disabled a few of our subspace communications relays.  It just happened to have coincided with a large solar storm at Frontiera, which disabled all comm systems there and affected the connectivity of the Transit Gate located there.  Rest assured ma’am we are handling the matter.”

It was that ‘ma’am’ comment that
forced Xwai’s hand and the ever sharp Ariel quickly caught on, “so it’s normal to not hear back from your Task Forces in over three days?  Why have I not heard of this hostile activity the moment it happened?  I’m not naïve Admiral.  I spent years in the military serving the Federation and can tell when there is something more going on.”

“There is nothing going on
other than what I have told you,” he replied in a defensive tone, getting agitated that she was reading him so well.  She must know more than she was saying, Xwai thought to himself, and that meant that someone was informing her against his wishes. “You are simply being paranoid.  My engineering teams and Naval Forces are doing great work in repairing the damage caused by the recent attacks.  They do no need to inform me on the hour of their progress, I have full confidence in their abilities.”

He looked down at his desk for a second, “there is a report right here actually about Kapricara.  The planet should be reconnected to FedCom within the next few days.  We are waiting for backup relay nods to arrive
.  Frontiera should not be far behind.  Our experts are telling me the radiation storm there should subside and allow us to deliver more supplies in a timely manner.  At the moment that storm is hindering our Gate operations and effecting even regular TDrive drop out.”

“Well what are we doing about these pirate groups?  They
have never dared to attack a major military installation before.  Have the terrorists responsible for this act been identified yet?  There have been no press releases from any groups recently to claim responsibility.  That seems very unusual.”

“Yes,
the whole situation is unusual, but one can never truly predict what these psychopaths do.  They are criminals and only wish to sow despair within the UPF in order to achieve their goals.  There is some preliminary evidence to suggest that the Technologist have had a hand in planning and or executing these attacks.  My intelligence staff has informed me of increased chatter coming from EnTec space aimed at some a few different terrorist groups operating just outside the UPF.”  Admiral Linn lied and paused for a second, his eyes drawn to the large display case on the other side of the room where his collection of various old artifacts lay. 

There
, in the very center, was a large sideways laying hourglass shaped object.  It was his most prized possession and was one of a few pieces he had kept for himself from the Odyssia archeological dig site, before it was completely destroyed.  For reasons beyond his explanation he had been pulled towards those artifacts.  His mind always turned towards them even while he was away.  It was like he was linked with them in some way.  From the moment they had been showcased to the admiral after their excavation he knew he had to have them for his collection.  It had also been from that moment on that his aspiration to become the sole leader of the Federation took over.  Never before had his drive for such forced advancement been so forthcoming.  Over the years of holding on to those artifacts that need only grew, until plans were actually laid down inside his circle of trusted men and women.

“This is the first time I am hearing of this Xwai.  None of the other agencies have gotten wind of any sort of communications between these different groups
.  I will have to look into this.  We have to tread carefully if this is in fact true.”

“We must all be ever
vigilant should such violence spill over into the rest of the Federation.  Ever since my military budget was reduced ten years ago, our fighting and defensive capability has declined considerably. No longer are we able to keep our fleet at past levels.  Every year we retire many more ships than we build, it is forcing us to keep our aging vessels much longer than their ended lifespans.  There is no way to cover the entirety of the space we control with the number of ships we now have.

“With new evidence of increasing attacks and estima
tes that more are being planned we really need to increase our ship levels to cover the sectors better.  I formally request an increase to our shipbuilding and operations budget.”

“You know there is no way I can do that Admiral,” Premier Ostenberg shook her head and looked down at the man, “this conversation has been had before.  The Federation can no longer afford such fleet sizes
, other civilian programs would be in jeopardy.  There is only a certain number of credits to go around.  Perhaps you can better manage the vessels you now have at your disposal.  We can invest into intelligence gathering operations to detect attacks before they happen.”

The Admiral huffed at that
suggestion, “Intelligence can’t escort convoys or protect civilian worlds from getting attacked.  We need physical assets to assert our presence in each sector.  At least give us a forward on part of our next year’s budget so that we can reinstate some of our reserve ships.”

“That’s actually an interesting idea,” Ariel said after a moment’s thought, “I believe we can make that happen for you, at least on a temporary manner.  How long will it take you to get them out of the reserves and man them?”

Xwai was actually surprised at her agreement to the idea, “We can have the ships ready within two to three days, manned fully by our naval reserve personnel.”

A red
intercom light appeared on his desk at the moment and indicated that one of his subordinates had an urgent message for him.  “Very well, Admiral Lin,” Ariel said, “you may start readying those ships.  I will take care of the Senate for you and get your funding.  With that out of the way, we still need to discuss your plans for securing our trade routes against further pirate raids.”

“Excuse me a moment, there is an urgent message coming through,” he put himself on mute so the Premier would not hear and opened a channel to the assistance sitting outside his office. “Yes lieutenant what is?”

“I’m sorry to disturb you sir, but we just received word that the Darma Horizon Refinery in Cetus has been attacked and destroyed by unknown forces.  The 7
th
Fleet also lost the
Delass
,
Allison
, and
Wenzhou
in the engagement.  The
Regal
CBG was in the vicinity to assist, but did not get there in time.  They are collecting evidence and sifting through the wreckage as we speak.  So far eight survivors have been recovered from the destroyed ships.  A detailed report has been forwarded to your workstation Admiral.”

This came completely unexpected for Xwai and actually caused him to grow silent for a moment to process the information.  Since the assault of Frontiera and
Kapricara, this news was the first to actually take him by surprise. The report popped up in front of him and he tapped it quickly in order to have it open.  Inside the message was an actual written report compiled by his staff from communiques by Admiral Singh of the
Regal
as well as military intelligence and Darma Corporation’s own reports.  Attached to it were also video recordings taken of the facility and the destroyed defense ships by the Carrier Group’s own craft.  One of these videos showed a rescue team, surrounded by an environmental containment field, cutting through a large bulkhead within a large section of floating debris. Within moments he watched them enter through the hole they had cut and pull out a pair of naval crew members on stretchers into the rear of a waiting shuttle.

He looked away from the image, sensing an opportunity had just presented itself to him, and back up at Ariel who was still standing there waiting for him.  “Sorry about
that Mrs. Premier.  I just learned that one of our Darmatium refining facilities has been destroyed.  I’m relaying the report to you now.  Initial estimates are putting the death toll at over five hundred.  We shall have to talk later.  I have to take care of this and try to find out exactly what happened.  I suggest you pass the information along to your people as well.  I have a feeling that we shall need those reserve ships sooner rather than later.”

Ariel’s face instantly changed to one of disbelief
as she glanced down at her own monitor to go over the report he had just transmitted.  “Of course Admiral, I completely understand.  We have to collaborate in our efforts to find those responsible for this.  Get those reserve ships operational.  Good luck Admiral and my full condolences to the men and women that lost their lives today.”

With that
final remark her holographic image disappeared and from out of nowhere a thin smile formed across his lips.  This attack was what he had been waiting for to help force the legislative and executive branches hand to give him more freedom.  The Darma Horizon destruction was something they could not ignore.  It was not some minor annoyance in out flung regions of the UPF like the occasional pirate raid.  This was a high casualty event against a valuable, not easily replaceable, asset in the middle of Federation control space.  There would be outrage among ordinary civilians.  Everyone living inside the Federation would be calling for those responsible to brought to justice no matter the costs.  Xwai would be able to use this single event to turn more people onto his way of thinking.  Citizens will finally realize that the current state of the military was far less than what was needed to adequately protect each and every sector.  In turn making the government look bad once again and proving to all that Admiral Linn had been right in always fighting for an increase in the defense budget.